I doubt it will be sooner than the ND game. AFAIK he hasn't even been to campus yet, it'd be pretty crazy for a kid to commit to a place he's never even been. (Although not unheard of. Magnuson did it, IIRC.)

IMO, we should still take 2 WRs despite the Stonum news. It's not guaranteed he's coming back, and we need that depth. Not sure if the coaches agree, but it'd be interesting with Darboh seeming to be leaning blue and visiting for WMU with his family and Payton coming for the ND game. Getting those two would be great

The counter argument to this is that WR is one of the positions that true freshman can actually contribute right away, although they usually have to be pretty good (i.e. Mario, Braylon, Terrell, etc.) But, say a DT can pretty much never be a decent contributor their true freshman year. So, one could argue that we should pass on a WR in favor of another lineman, because in 2013/2014 our depth looks scary in those places as well, but they need more time to develop.

Braylon only caught three passes as a freshman. Terrell caught 14. Manningham made a bigger impact but (outside of the PSU game) wasn't really a go-to guy - he had 27 receptions, or just over two per game.

Even stud WR recruits often don't play that much as freshmen. It takes them time to learn the playbook and get on the same page as the QB, and a lot aren't good enough blockers as well. If a frosh WR becomes a major contributor, it's a bonus.

That's true, but they still don't often contribute very much. How many times in the last 15 or so years has M had a true freshman receiver get more than about 10 catches for the whole season. Odoms was an anomoly for sure, but he was the only slot receiver the team had.

Ruuning back seems to be the easist. WR greatly depends on the offense. If the routes have a lot of options that both the QB and WR need to read, then it's a lot tougher for a freshman to effectively play.

"Michigan is up there. So far, they are my favorite. I'd say Michigan is 1 and Cal is probably 2," Payton said. "I like everything about [Michigan]. I like the school, I like the coaches… I like all that stuff."

I think Payton would be a huge get for us for many reasons. For one, he and Darboh are the two receivers that I most want. But besides the obvious need for receivers, I think Payton also helps us more in future recruiting. He goes to Oaks Christian, which has put out many D1 prospects the past few years and this could be huge in getting a pipeline to that talent-rich school for future recruits.

Payton see's what we have in Denard and Devin and what we have coming in with Shane and I think he likes what he sees. We have a real good shot at landing him and Darboh and solidifiying this class as one of the best in the country!

LETS GOO!!! this is great to hear....a commitment from a WR like payton would fill out our class (save the elite prospects), and give full attention to fall camp and the future classes. It seems that recruits are really feeling hoke's down-to-earth, prideful nature. I love it